Round Robin Blitz, Monday, 18 April

There was some good blitz last night, but there's one remarkable performer who's time for recognition is long overdue, so I will honor his performance in this article. Can you guess who it is?

No. Name St Rate Pts
1 Heinrich, Paul G. NV 2274 11.0
2 Salazar, Earl P NV 2022 11.0
3 Phillips, Ryan NV 2000 10.0
4 Ayers, Mark CA 1872 9.0
5 Thurber, Michael NV 1847 8.0
6 Burns, Daniel G. NV 1500 7.0
7 Galima, Tim NV 1754 7.0
8 Concepcion, Ruzlan NV 1600 5.0
9 Quinones, Daniel NV 1660 4.5
10 Watson, Rockford M NV 1310 4.5
11 Ulbrich, Karl NV 1092 4.0
12 Mojica, Andrew NV 793 2.0
13 Salazar, Matthew NV 1.0
14 LeRoy, Randy NV 1350 0.0

We all expect the higher-rated players to perform well. That's a given. Now for the underdog/Cinderalla story of the night. It belongs to Rocky "Balboa" Watson who duck, weaved, danced and punched his way to a breakthrough score of 4.5 points! As he moved from board to board it reminded me of a tornada leaving a path of destruction in a southern forest. Why do people sometimes, seemingly out of the blue, have the performance of their life? Could the full moom last night be responsible for it? I can only speculate. It could have been some form of planetary alignment or a UFO hovering over UMC last night. Rocky played a spectacular rook sacrifice versus Tim Galima and I think he had a win, but failed to keep the initiative as he let his guard down and turned towards the TD. At that moment Galima let loose with a wild right hook that put Rocky to sleep. At that moment I glanced out the window and saw a UFO darting across the sky as Bigfoot lept across Charleston Blvd. Something must have spooked them, and with them Rocky's mojo also left at a time he needed it most. Shortly afterwards the beam from a nearby hovering UFO shot through the window and aimed at Rocky's forehead. Moments later Rocky drew his game with Earl Salazar, who would tie for the tournament lead with 11.0 points. Balboa on fire last night and only one person could stop him and that's himself!

Last night I witnessed Rocky play tactics never before seen on the chessboard. His games looked like a "hot knife cutting through butter." I don't have the slightest idea what that means, but it sounds impressive!

Will he ever be able to repeat this performance? I doubt it, but anything is possible. It's very difficult if not impossible to have a performance of your life two weeks in a row. There's many many one-hit wonders in the music business because they are incapable of coping with the pressure of doing a follow-up hit.

Watch out for this guy or you will pay a dear price. I'm predicting BIG things for Rocky. I predict he'll score a whopping 6.0 points next time out! His next huge leap will be over the 1400 mark and my the end of the year will will top 1600! Have I ever been wrong on my blog? The unequivocal answer is, "No!" Anyone who doubts me will do so in peril over the chessboard against Rocky. His last words of the night were: "Yo Adrian, we did it. We did it!"

You might be asking yourself why I devoted so many paragraphs to one person. Well, you could also ask yourself, "Why did God create so many books in the bible?" Hey, he's God isn't he? He could have written a small paperback an left it at that. Or you could ask yourself, "What is the meaning of life?" See, there's really a deep philosophical reasoning behind it all. I'm not sure what it is. The thought goes so deep into esoteric thinking that only a 33 degree mason could understand it. Did I answer the question or did I confuse you even more? I'm confused.

We also had a high-1800 rated player, Mark Avery, from California stop by and play. His play was very impressive. He's the first person I saw keep score in blitz and still find a way to win--not a feat I recommend trying.

Ruzlan Conception played also. He's a good, solid player. We were glad to have him.

The quote of the night belongs to Randy LeRoy. Shortly after losing to Danny Quinones, he withdrew from the tournament. He shook my hand and said, "This is not chess!" A person could only make such a comment by looking over at Thurber's board! My hand hurt for about ten minutes after his handshake. Why did he leave? Rumor has it that shortly before the game began Danny said, "Good luck and God bless you". Could it be that internal questions such as: Is there life after death and thoughts on the evolution debate flooded Randy's mind, rendering him unable to concentrate as Danny had his way over the chess board? I don't know guys, but it could possibly be another case of divine intervention. Simply put, I'm suggesting the possibility that God short-circuited his play, proving God works in mysterious ways. I do recall seeing this "burning bush" in his eyes as he shook my hand.

I also know from personal experience that it's not easy to sit across the board from "The Great Debater" aka Quinones--a guy who plays with ideas and logic while I am unable to use some of my best tools to include "name calling", unfortunately because chess is a quiet game. It leaves me at a distinct disadvantage. That's why his record is so good against me. Wait! Everyone has a good record against me with the exception of "The Lion Killer" Debesai!

Thanks to everyone for coming out!

Beware of the Rock!

Paul